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Throughout the history of economic ideas, it has often been asserted that experimentation is impossible, yet, in fact, history shows that the idea of ‘experimentation’ has always been important, and as such has been interpreted and put to use in many ways. Rich in historical detail, the essays in this topical volume deal with such issues as laboratory experimentation, the observed transition from a post-war economics to a contemporary discipline, the contrasting positions of Friedrich Hayek and Oskar Morgenstern, the socio-economic experiments proposed by Ernest Solvay and Knut Wicksell, and a rigorous examination of the way in which economic models can or cannot be construed as valid experiments producing useful knowledge. A testament to the variety of ways in which experimentation has been of importance in the creation of economic knowledge, these wide-ranging essays will interest those seeking to expand their historical understanding of the discipline, be they theorists, historians, philosophers, advanced students or researchers.
This book establishes a chronological trace of the entrepreneur as treated in economic literature in order to give a more wholesome perspective to contemporary writings and teachings on entrepreneurship. It focuses on the nature and role of the entrepreneur, and of entrepreneurship, as revealed in economic literature as early as the eighteenth century, when Richard Cantillon first coined the term 'entrepreneur'. The authors then trace how Joseph Schumpeter's perspective, among other’s, on entrepreneurship came to dominate the world's understanding of the term. Due to Schumpeter’s dominant influence, entrepreneurship has come to occupy a primary role in the theory of economic development....
This innovative volume presents a comprehensive appraisal of John Hicks' Capital and Time (1973) thirty years on from its original publication. Contributors include Walter Eltis, Heinz Kurz and Maghnad Desai.
A key issue in economic discourse today is the relation (or lack of it) between economic behaviour and morality. Few (presumably) would want to deny that human beings are in some sense moral or ethical creatures, but the devil is in the detail. Should we think of economic behaviour as an essentially amoral process – a process adequately characterised by a means-ends rationality – into which any number of subjective ethical concerns or orientations may be intruded to give a particular action its determinate moral content? Or is it rather the case that our moral being runs deeper than this, in the sense that all of our behaviour – ‘economic’ or otherwise – is enabled or capacitated...
The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the work of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850), one of the towering intellectual figures of nineteenth century France. More than anyone else of his time, Bastiat personified the struggle of liberalism and science against socialism and utopia. Between 1844 in 1850, his campaign for the idea of liberty and his commitment to the discipline of political economy made him one of the most vigorous champions of economic liberalism in France. Bastiat put forth one of the most ambitious interpretations of the liberalism of his time, one that entailed both a critique of primitive socialism and a concern to provide political economy with a t...
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of academic interest in Adam Smith. As a consequence, a large number of PhD dissertations on Smith have been written by international scholars - in different languages, and in many diverse disciplines, including economics, women’s studies, philosophy, science studies, political theory and english literature: diversity which has enriched the area of study. In response to this activity, and in order to making these contributions more easily accessible to other Smith scholars, Leonidas Montes and Eric Schliesser have edited this important new book. Of interest to Smith scholars and those interested in the history of economic thought in general, the contributions to this book are self-consciously interdisciplinary and skilfully employ many different methodologies.
Adam Smith is well recognized as the forefather of modern economics, but his success can be attributed not only to what he wrote but also to his use of language. In this exciting new book, Willie Henderson shows how Smith engaged creatively in writing about the economy, and analyzes the extent to which he tried to ensure that the reader is drawn into the text and informed by it. Demonstrating analysis methods that are helpful to new researchers on Smith’s works, Evaluating Adam Smith sets his work in the cultural context of the eighteenth century and explores the lexical and conceptual inter-relations between Smith and the sources he consulted. Issues explored include Smith’s use of irony and his work in the context of wealth, virtue and happiness as presented in the Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations. Henderson’s informative study employs the literary techniques of close reading and close textual analysis and applies them to sustained passages of Smith’s writing.
Samuel Hollander’s work has been provoking debate for over four decades. This book brings together key contributions of recent years, in addition to some brand new pieces. The essays are introduced by a Preface in which Hollander reflects on his past work and reactions to it. Highlights include two issues of particular current relevance. Conspicuous is an extensive chapter regarding Adam Smith’s often neglected arguments for government intervention in the economy to correct market failures, and his critical view of the business class as an anti-social force. Important economists considered in relation to Adam Smith’s position on the role of the state include Jeremy Bentham and the Scot...
Various explanations have been put forward as to why the Keynesian Revolution in economics in the 1930s and 1940s took place. Some of these point to the temporal relevance of John Maynard Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), appearing, as it did, just a handful of years after the onset of the Great Depression, whilst others highlight the importance of more anecdotal evidence, such as Keynes’s close relations with the Cambridge ‘Circus’, a group of able, young Cambridge economists who dissected and assisted Keynes in developing crucial ideas in the years leading up to the General Theory. However, no systematic effort has been made to bring together thes...
This book explores the perceived paradigmatic conflict within British classical economics between the so called 'Ricardo School' and the contemporary French Economics of Jean-Baptiste Say. Samuel Hollander provides the reader with extensive evidence, utilizing all editions of Say's main texts and his lesser-known writings in order to demonstrate his adherence to much of Ricardian theory. This intriguing book focuses on selected doctorinal issues and surrounding debates, and will interest all serious historians of economic thought, finding a place on the bookshelves of many economists across the world.